Eternal Darkness creator seeking crowdfunding for spiritual sequel

It's been almost 11 years since Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem became the first M-rated game published by Nintendo, but to this day fans talk reverently about the GameCube cult classic's rich mythos and mind-bending "insanity effects." Now, Eternal Darkness director Dennis Dyack is trying to bring that magic back with plans to attract crowdfunding for a spiritual successor called Shadow of the Eternals.

Pretty much everything we know about the game at this point is contained in a teaser trailer posted by IGN, ahead of a formal crowdfunding effort set to start Monday. The short video highlights a gothic castle, robed figures, flesh-eating, green-eyed monsters, and fire... lots of fire. There's also a cryptic reference to the "Ordinem De Non Visis," or Order of the Unseen.

Though the game is being promoted under the new Precursor Games label, the trailer touts the game as being "from the creators of Eternal Darkness." IGN's Nintendo Executive Editor Rich George tweeted that "yes, Dennis Dyack is involved," but it's unclear what other former Silicon Knights employees, if any, will be working on the new title, or even what platforms the game is being planned for.

Silicon Knights rose to prominence by collaborating with Nintendo on Eternal Darkness and with Konami on Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes, a remake for the Gamecube in 2004. In the years since, the studio has only put out two titles, Too Human and X-Men: Destiny, both of which were savaged by critics and failed to make much of a sales impact. Then, last November, Silicon Knights was ordered to recall and destroy all copies of both games after losing a lawsuit with Epic Games over Unreal Engine licensing issues.

Last year, Kotaku published an insider account of Silicon Knights based on information from eight anonymous former employees of the studio. The piece paints a picture of a company torn apart by political infighting and seemingly more concerned with milking its funding sources rather than releasing quality games in a timely manner. The piece also discusses the development of a formal Eternal Darkness 2, which apparently reached the demo stage before failing to be sold to a publisher.

Given Dyack's recent history in the industry and current reputation, convincing gamers to fund a new project may be an uphill battle. Then again, the pleasant memories of Eternal Darkness may just convince the world to give the guy one more shot at this whole "video game" thing.

Promoted Comments

I just want to say that the displayed title of the embedded video on my screen was truncated to Shadow of the Eternals Teas, which would be an amazing game. Magic and sanity meters are so yesterday; what we need are video games that explore the phenomenal cosmic power, unknown to all but a select few chosen by fate, contained in a nice hot cup of Earl Grey.

Doesn't Nintendo have a patent on 'sanity effects' in gameplay from the first game? Someone prove me wrong and tell me that's just an internet myth, because if it's true it's just ridiculous on so many levels.

I'll pay them whatever I can. Eternal Darkness was flawless, despite its flaws

16 posts | registered Aug 30, 2011

Kyle Orland
Kyle is the Senior Gaming Editor at Ars Technica, specializing in video game hardware and software. He has journalism and computer science degrees from University of Maryland. He is based in the Washington, DC area. Emailkyle.orland@arstechnica.com//Twitter@KyleOrl

51 Reader Comments

The atmosphere and sanity effects in Eternal Darkness were awesome, but the gameplay itself was abysmal. Terrible controls, stiff action, poor hit detection, and a magic system that had an inspired design but hideous execution. People are going to remind us that is was originally planned to be an N64 game before it became a (near?)launch title for the Gamecube and should be compared to the previous generation gameplay style, but both N64 Zeldas, for example, tore it to shreds on all metrics but output resolution.

I really want an Eternal Darkness 2 but I'm really on the fence about giving them money after a lack of success for 9 years. 9 years. I'm going to need to see some names of people that worked on successful projects before I caugh up the doe I think.

I just want to say that the displayed title of the embedded video on my screen was truncated to Shadow of the Eternals Teas, which would be an amazing game. Magic and sanity meters are so yesterday; what we need are video games that explore the phenomenal cosmic power, unknown to all but a select few chosen by fate, contained in a nice hot cup of Earl Grey.

Doesn't Nintendo have a patent on 'sanity effects' in gameplay from the first game? Someone prove me wrong and tell me that's just an internet myth, because if it's true it's just ridiculous on so many levels.

I just want to say that the displayed title of the embedded video on my screen was truncated to Shadow of the Eternals Teas, which would be an amazing game. Magic and sanity meters are so yesterday; what we need are video games that explore the phenomenal cosmic power, unknown to all but a select few chosen by fate, contained in a nice hot cup of Earl Grey.

Even in the good days of Eternal Darkness and Metal Gear, Silicon Knights went over-budget and long past their scheduled release date. The question is how are they going to prevent that in what I assume will be a very ambitious game? With crowd-funding you can't just ask for more money when you realise you will not be able to deliver.

Very excited about this. Eternal Darkness is one of my favorite horror games of all time, lurking somewhere between the top 3 to 5 range. Yes, the gameplay is woefully outdated (and even at the time it wasn't all that good), but the atompshere, sanity effects, environments and storyline were all A+.

And....confession time -- I actually liked Too Human. Yes, the controls were difficult to grasp, but I quite enjoy the shooting/hack & slash gameplay, especially in co-op (although sadly, there was little co-op to be played after a month or two).

I enjoyed Too Human, but was underwhelmed. The x-men game they released last was horrible. I'd love a good ED sequel, but I don't think I trust them enough anymore to pay early to get it released. I'd rather have no sequel than a bad cash in on a title I really enjoyed.

Edit: I think its worth noting, this time around, they wouldn't have producers like Shigeru Miyamoto and Satoru Iwata backing them up...

Doesn't Nintendo have a patent on 'sanity effects' in gameplay from the first game? Someone prove me wrong and tell me that's just an internet myth, because if it's true it's just ridiculous on so many levels.

I enjoyed Too Human, but was underwhelmed. The x-men game they released last was horrible. I'd love a good ED sequel, but I don't think I trust them enough anymore to pay early to get it released. I'd rather have no sequel than a bad cash in on a title I really enjoyed.

Edit: I think its worth noting, this time around, they wouldn't have producers like Shigeru Miyamoto and Satoru Iwata backing them up...

Wait, you enjoyed it too? Let's play co-op!!!! (kidding...sorta)

Yes, the X-Men game was awful and epitomized the popular license cash grab gamers have grown to hate. I defended Too Human and generally thought people were being a bit hard on Dyack and SK, but after that, well, it was hard to do it with a straight face.

The atmosphere and sanity effects in Eternal Darkness were awesome, but the gameplay itself was abysmal. Terrible controls, stiff action, poor hit detection, and a magic system that had an inspired design but hideous execution. People are going to remind us that is was originally planned to be an N64 game before it became a (near?)launch title for the Gamecube and should be compared to the previous generation gameplay style, but both N64 Zeldas, for example, tore it to shreds on all metrics but output resolution.

As far as I know, all the best horror games have clunky controls and stiff action. It's hard to feel afraid when you're running full speed sideways firing rockets from the hip.

The atmosphere and sanity effects in Eternal Darkness were awesome, but the gameplay itself was abysmal. Terrible controls, stiff action, poor hit detection, and a magic system that had an inspired design but hideous execution. People are going to remind us that is was originally planned to be an N64 game before it became a (near?)launch title for the Gamecube and should be compared to the previous generation gameplay style, but both N64 Zeldas, for example, tore it to shreds on all metrics but output resolution.

As far as I know, all the best horror games have clunky controls and stiff action. It's hard to feel afraid when you're running full speed sideways firing rockets from the hip.

I am afraid when I run into someone else going full speed firing rockets from the hip. Does that count?

The atmosphere and sanity effects in Eternal Darkness were awesome, but the gameplay itself was abysmal. Terrible controls, stiff action, poor hit detection, and a magic system that had an inspired design but hideous execution. People are going to remind us that is was originally planned to be an N64 game before it became a (near?)launch title for the Gamecube and should be compared to the previous generation gameplay style, but both N64 Zeldas, for example, tore it to shreds on all metrics but output resolution.

My friends and I get together every weekend and play horror games together (we've done this for a few years now). We've played *many*, many horror games at this point, and I'm glad at least somebody else wasn't super impressed by ED (ever since playing it I haven't understood the fervent obsession some people seem to have with it). There were a couple of interesting ideas in the game, but the execution was ultimately so poor that it ranks pretty low overall in our large library of completed horror titles.

As far as I know, all the best horror games have clunky controls and stiff action. It's hard to feel afraid when you're running full speed sideways firing rockets from the hip.

That's true (though I think that the ED controls were clunky in some unnecessary ways), and I thought it had some nice touches. Being able to target certain regions was great -- chopping the limbs off zombies was always fun, and different Ancient's minions having different vulnerabilities (e.g. green body snatchers didn't have 'heads' to chop off). Also I liked how the clunkiness varied with character -- the Arabian warrior was pretty agile and quick with his swords, while the Arabian architect was slow and bumbling in combat.

I loved the magic system, except for it being a bit imbalanced (once you got the blue and red runes and the healing spell all you had to do was survive a fight and full health was yours once again). But man, standing there while the ethereal voice rattled off the rune names hoping it would finish before the Guardian squashed me was nerve-wracking in all the right ways.

The atmosphere and sanity effects in Eternal Darkness were awesome, but the gameplay itself was abysmal. Terrible controls, stiff action, poor hit detection, and a magic system that had an inspired design but hideous execution. People are going to remind us that is was originally planned to be an N64 game before it became a (near?)launch title for the Gamecube and should be compared to the previous generation gameplay style, but both N64 Zeldas, for example, tore it to shreds on all metrics but output resolution.

My friends and I get together every weekend and play horror games together (we've done this for a few years now). We've played *many*, many horror games at this point, and I'm glad at least somebody else wasn't super impressed by ED (ever since playing it I haven't understood the fervent obsession some people seem to have with it). There were a couple of interesting ideas in the game, but the execution was ultimately so poor that it ranks pretty low overall in our large library of completed horror titles.

I think a lot of the overhype is the usual automatic sainting of any and all Nintendo-published games that afflicts a lot of fans.

Doesn't Nintendo have a patent on 'sanity effects' in gameplay from the first game? Someone prove me wrong and tell me that's just an internet myth, because if it's true it's just ridiculous on so many levels.

For Eternal Darkness, Silicon Knights had Nintendo looking over their shoulder. For MGS:TT, they had both Konami and Nintendo looking over their shoulder. Even their first big-name hit, Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver, apparently caused enough friction with the publisher that the publisher dumped them for the sequel.

As much as I'd like a modernized Eternal Darkness, without external, 'adult' supervision, I wouldn't trust Dyack with any of my money.

Doesn't Nintendo have a patent on 'sanity effects' in gameplay from the first game? Someone prove me wrong and tell me that's just an internet myth, because if it's true it's just ridiculous on so many levels.

There are ways to skirt that. Amnesia: The Dark Descent had sanity effects. There wasn't an explicit meter to track your sanity level like in Eternal Darkness, but there was definitely an impact on gameplay by, for instance, staying in the darkness for too long and none of the effects broke the fourth wall as ED's did.

Doesn't Nintendo have a patent on 'sanity effects' in gameplay from the first game? Someone prove me wrong and tell me that's just an internet myth, because if it's true it's just ridiculous on so many levels.

That's just....ugh. How can that even be enforceable? Clearly it's part of the 'game rules' as laid out for Eternal Darkness, and I've always been led to believe that game rules and mechanics are not actually patentable (which led to things like the Dungeons and Dragons System Reference Document that was legal to freely distribute, and all of the unlicensed third-party adventure modules that were published as a result). I'm no patent lawyer but that just seems utterly shady. It's like if Nintendo had patented "getting a power up" after the release of Super Mario Bros.

Those were my favorites! My favorite one was where you finished a chapter and instead of going back to the mansion hub, it went to a screen that said "Thank you for playing Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem! Continue the fight against the ancients in Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Redemption coming soon to the GameCube!" That one actually got me to shout "What the f-".

The downside to ED's system is that it didn't affect gameplay, it was either ignorable special effects or cut-scenes that ended and sent you back with no harm done. The plus side was it didn't affect gameplay so I could play the whole game at minimum sanity and see all the effects.

And I remember when Nintendo got that patent on the sanity meter. One of the dumbest things I've ever heard happening in the patent system, and that's saying something.

Doesn't Nintendo have a patent on 'sanity effects' in gameplay from the first game? Someone prove me wrong and tell me that's just an internet myth, because if it's true it's just ridiculous on so many levels.

That's just....ugh. How can that even be enforceable? Clearly it's part of the 'game rules' as laid out for Eternal Darkness, and I've always been led to believe that game rules and mechanics are not actually patentable (which led to things like the Dungeons and Dragons System Reference Document that was legal to freely distribute, and all of the unlicensed third-party adventure modules that were published as a result). I'm no patent lawyer but that just seems utterly shady. It's like if Nintendo had patented "getting a power up" after the release of Super Mario Bros.

I'll just add that the clunky controls of ED really took away from my enjoyment of the game. I could see that they had something good with the atmosphere and story, but as soon as I got back to the running/fighting parts it was enough to ruin my immersion.

Same with the earlier Resident Evil games. Clunky controls didn't make it scarier to me, just more frustrating. In RE4 I was plenty terrified in the scary parts, but I also had fun in the running/fighting parts. I'm no horror game expert, but it seems like "scary" and "enjoyable controls" need not be mutually exclusive in horror games.

That's just....ugh. How can that even be enforceable? Clearly it's part of the 'game rules' as laid out for Eternal Darkness, and I've always been led to believe that game rules and mechanics are not actually patentable (which led to things like the Dungeons and Dragons System Reference Document that was legal to freely distribute, and all of the unlicensed third-party adventure modules that were published as a result). I'm no patent lawyer but that just seems utterly shady. It's like if Nintendo had patented "getting a power up" after the release of Super Mario Bros.

Game rules certainly are patentable, as literally centuries of history and jurisprudence will attest to. The D20 SRD for D&D 3 and 3.5 was an experiment of Wizards of the Coast to try to "open-source" the game system to increase community participation. Later editions of D&D went back to a closed model (4e and the upcoming 5e).

On topic: I really enjoyed Eternal Darkness (and still have my copy right by the TV). But everything Silicon Knights/Dyack has produced since then has been disappointing (at best). I'll give Shadow of the Eternals a fair shake upon release, but I can't trust Dyack enough to Kickstart it.

That's just....ugh. How can that even be enforceable? Clearly it's part of the 'game rules' as laid out for Eternal Darkness, and I've always been led to believe that game rules and mechanics are not actually patentable (which led to things like the Dungeons and Dragons System Reference Document that was legal to freely distribute, and all of the unlicensed third-party adventure modules that were published as a result). I'm no patent lawyer but that just seems utterly shady. It's like if Nintendo had patented "getting a power up" after the release of Super Mario Bros.

Game rules certainly are patentable, as literally centuries of history and jurisprudence will attest to. The D20 SRD for D&D 3 and 3.5 was an experiment of Wizards of the Coast to try to "open-source" the game system to increase community participation. Later editions of D&D went back to a closed model (4e and the upcoming 5e).

I think people are getting patents and copyrights confused. Game mechanics can't be copyrighted (though, obviously, the specific explanation of them and any attendant artwork are). All of which is good, since game mechanics are copied from earlier games all the time, and copyright is eternal.

As you say, of course, they absolutely can be patented. However, I would expect that most game mechanics aren't, since - unlike copyright - a patent must be applied for and approved by the USPTO. I doubt most board game authors, for example, would see a net benefit from having a patent granted on a game. Moreover, across both video and board games, I suspect novelty is significantly harder to demonstrate. And of course, patents expire after 20 years (in the US).

Terms and symbols unique to the game - most notoriously, M:tG's "tap" and related icon - can't be patented or copyrighted, but they can be trademarked. Trademarks, however, are only applicable to the extent they might "cause confusion" amongst consumers. You can't sell a cereal named Cheerios, but you could sell mobile phones named Cheerios. Trademarks, of course, are perpetual, but must be actively defended or they vanish.

The platforms for the game should be mentioned somewhere - it's PC and Wii U at the moment. Would be interesting to see Nintendo get involved since the idea is for it's system that can use some good news after EA all but ditched them (thanks, Origin), so I wouldn't worry about patents.

And if history has shown us anything, *only* if Nintendo gets involved could you really expect it to be of good quality and within budget.

The downside to ED's system is that it didn't affect gameplay, it was either ignorable special effects or cut-scenes that ended and sent you back with no harm done. The plus side was it didn't affect gameplay so I could play the whole game at minimum sanity and see all the effects.

And I remember when Nintendo got that patent on the sanity meter. One of the dumbest things I've ever heard happening in the patent system, and that's saying something.

It could affect gameplay if you let it. Once your sanity meter bottoms out, further hits to sanity will take health, but that's not that big of a deal. With the recovery spells and by running around to recharge your magick (admittedly a stupid way to recharge magick) you can spend a few minutes and max out health, magick, and sanity. The only gameplay effect with that is to slow things down to an annoying crawl. Gamers slower on the uptake could also reset their system thinking something was wrong based on the fourth wall effects.

My favorites were the bathtub quick cut, bugs crawling on the screen, and the landscape painting in Alex's time changing to a hellscape with flayed skins hanging on sticks (appropriately disturbing). You can watch all of the sanity effects here if you are so inclined.

As far as a sequel goes, I'd love to see one if done properly. However, part of me wants to leave Eternal Darkness as it is despite a few open questions left at the end of the game. The other part of me is a free rider who enjoys the fruits of other people's labors.